Main Line Animal Rescue

Here’s my opinion, they have their policies and they definitely come across as arrogant through email (no matter how they attempt to justify it). I’m sure if you make it into Oz your experience will be wonderful and a perfect match will be found, there are many people who love this group. I also know they are doing what they feel is in the best interest of the animal. That said, be prepared to have your blood pressure go up significantly when dealing with them. Should you be deemed not worthy of one of their animals you will be insulted and there’s no way around this. So if you know rejection will be more than you can handle skip this adoption center and go directly to one of the other adoption groups in the area. There are several who have more reasonable requirements and are wonderful to work with.

I have contacted MLAR when we knew NOTHING about the adoption process and a friend who works at the ASPCA in another city had heard good things. Guess what? We live in Philly and have no yard to speak of. We were directed to our local shelters and have adopted a cutie from Morris Animal Refuge, who is a family member. I totally get it. There are tons of animals everywhere, and it’s about finding the right fit for animal and people. MLAR directed us in a non-​snobby way to a terrific shelter, and I see nothing wrong with that.

I live in King of Prussia, which is NOT on the Main Line. I had a wonderful experience adopting a dog from MLAR. From the first phone call I received after submitting an application, to spending 3 hours with a volunteer meeting different dogs until I found the right match (during which time Bill Smith spent 15 mins chatting with me). Everyone involved was dedicated to helping me find the right dog. I respect their adoption rules and have no problem with the requirements. When I lived in Philadelphia several years ago, I adopted a dog in Philadelphia. And it was not a pit bull. This facility is lovely, the volunteers who work there are awesome, and Bill Smith is doing great work.

Some jerk driving a MLAR car pulled up to me in the Arby’s drive thru (with my daughter in the truck with me!) and started yelling that I was breaking the law by letting my TIED IN dogs ride in the back of my truck! There’s no way they can jump out! This jerk face-​bored-​dork of man then takes a picture of my truck and says he’s calling the cops. call them. Bully!!! Go find someone else who is actually doing something wrong! I take better care of my dogs that you probably do of your kids! Jerk!!!

I have to say that our experience (and we are not «mainline snobs») with MLAR has been amazing. We lost our dog after 15 ½ years and my wife and daughters were crushed. Waiting until my wife was ready to think about another dog, we decided to adopt and went to MLAR. Our experience from the first phone call until the day we took our dog home was nothing short of personal, professional and the care they provided in ensuring we were the right fit was above and beyond. Too often people don’t properly think through adopting an animal that has been abandon or rescued but the folks at MLAR definitely do!

MLAR is a place that deeply cares for their rescued pets. I have great respect for their commitment to animal advocacy.

I read Unilocal reviews the day before my scheduled appointment at MLAR. I was hesitant to go after reading the reviews. I’m so thankful my husband read the reviews too — his thoughts were that the negative reviews were written by people who’s applications were denied and thought we should go to our appointment anyway. Thank god we did! I can’t even begin to tell you how amazed we were by the entire organization. The volunteers, paid staff and Bill couldn’t have been more accommodating. We have two small children and they matched us with dogs they felt most suitable for our family situation and steered us away from dogs they felt wouldn’t be a match. Before we could adopt Bill had to come and do a quick fence check which he did on a Sunday night! I’m in awe of the entire process at MLAR. They go above and beyond for the dogs and I am thankful for everyone who helps Bill run the organization. Kudos to you guys!!!
P. S. I dont live on the Main Line and I was able to adopt from here without a problem at all! Just make sure you have a fenced in yard and if not, go to your local shelter to rescue :)

If you have a Philadelphia address, this facility will not allow you to adopt. Here is the email I received: «Thank you for your application for adoption from Main Line Animal Rescue. Because of the number of dogs and cats in Philadelphia looking for new homes, we ask that people visit their local shelters to adopt…»
Regardless of where you live, I highly recommend you visit Street Tails (
). The young lady that runs it is amazing, very honest — and will not discriminate with regard to where you choose to reside.

I wish I could give Main Line Animal Rescue a large donation along with 10 stars for a review. The amount of work these volunteers/​staff do to make sure that these animals are safe, happy and most importantly loved, is amazing. The staff there (including the owner Bill) really care about each animals placement in a home, they are not a shelter that let dogs be adopted to the wrong homes. Bill and his team carefully select each applicant and inspect their environment making it so that the animal has a loving, safe, environment to grow up in. My boyfriend and I just adopted an amazing animal from their shelter and Bill and his staff answered all of my emails/​phone calls, filled with questions and what was the next step to have our new family member have that forever home that she was longing for. We adopted a AMAZING love bug Janice who has fit in PERFECTLY and we could not be happier. We realize that our happiness with Janice would not be possible unless the people at Main Line Animal Rescue gave their love, time and patience to make Janice the wonderful dog that she is today. We love her so much and our love goes out to all the Volunteers/​Staff at Main Line, we know your job is not easy by any means but you certainly go above and beyond for your animals and that is what truly matters. Thank you again.

It makes me really sad that this «rescue» organization is so utterly unwilling to remove their snobby heads from their snobby asses. I (and my mother who lives in a lovely house — not on the Mainline — with a huge backyard — not on the Mainline) have been interested for OVER A YEAR in a chow-​chow they have on the site. We have expressed our interest SEVERAL times, and each time they have told us that they «will only adopt locally» to people with backyards (their back-​handed way of implying we’re not good enough to adopt one of their dogs because we don’t live in Lower Merion Township). I find it extraordinarily ethically dubious that the jackasses who run this organization think their asinine opinions about neighborhood and home ownership trump the well-​being of the dogs. This poor dog is sitting around without a permanent home while the idiots at this organization continue to assert their passive-​aggressive rules to enable them to never have to associate with the «rabble» who live in the city of Philadelphia and beyond. What a bunch of complete and utter jerks.

Well after looking in their website and Browsing the dogs they had we had a lot of interest in one of their unique dogs. They state you need a fence and good references which I completely understand. They also state you must live in the area which I would assume means the general Philadelphia area because they are not specific. It pretty much means you have to be a rich snob from the main line. Maybe it would help if you put up a map with their adoption area so people don’t get their hopes up and then get them crushed by some snob. The whole point of animal rescue is to help the animals not hold them for the rich people.
The email they sent me suggested I go to local rescues in Philadelphia which I already have and did not find a compatible mate for my current dog. Most of the dogs were pitbulls. I have no problem with pitbulls but it’s just not what I’m looking for right now.
This place should be investigated by the animal police. It seems to me they are holding dogs purposely for rich people and don’t really care about placing their animals in a loving home in a timely manner.

Our Ellie Mae is the best addition to our family in years! Thanks to the staff and volunteers!

No Stars though one for Unilocal’s sake.
Applied online, followed up twice, only to be rejected for living in Philadelphia. When questioned why, the MLAR rep stated they would like city residents to adopt from the city shelters. If I wanted a pitbull I would adopt from the city shelters. I stated «you are particular» and ended the unsatisfactory conversation. Thank you for nothing.
It is indeed a noble effort to save animals in a suburban fantasy, while snubbing certain zip codes for sport, yet you do a great disservice to service with this snide, shallow frippery.
Sincerly,
Michael McCullough

MLAR Just Made Our Family Happier by One More Member! I’m somewhat surprised to see the negativity thrown at MLAR. We just adopted a beautiful Lab/​Corgi mix and could not be happier. Yes. The process is carefully screened. Why not? These poor animals have been mistreated, abused, abandoned and surrerendered. Why wouldn’t an adoptive family be screened and matched appropriately??? We found MLAR to be respectful of the animals – they wanted to know our background with pets, and rightly so… and the positive energy from the staff toward every single animal there was incredibly amazing and impressive. Also, the setting for these animals could not have been better – it is like a retreat. MLAR has found friends for life in our family!

I just wanted to echo the two other 1 Star Reviews and add my two cents.
MLAR is doing a disservice to these animals. If I were a dog, would I rather be in a loving home or stuck in a crowded shelter full of blinded Holier then thou humans who are actively stopping me from going to said home. Don’t believe me? Look on petfinder. See how many personality descriptions or histories are attached to MLARs dog adds. Almost none. What right-​minded person is going to submit an adoption form based on a picture alone? No one. t But you can’t inquire about a dog unless you fill one out.
MLAR is either lazy or they’re pretty website, fluffy stories and happy endings are all smoke an mirrors so they can keep raking in cash thru donations. That is what I believe MLAR is about. Donations, not adoptions. There are plenty of willing places that actually want to find these animals homes.

I was there that day. The person below failed to mention that her 100 lbs. plus Rottie was not neutered and the reason Bill Smith was suspicious is because he wasn’t sure their dog liked other dogs and they wanted a Chihuahua! When asked (politely) why their dog wasn’t neutered, they explained that they were going to breed him/​he was in a breeding program. This person was surrounded by 200+ homeless dogs and he wanted to make more dogs??? MLAR was right to turn them down. They didn’t mention any of this in their comment though, did they??? We adopted two wonderful dogs and think MLAR is AMAZING! They even delivered the dogs to my home.

We were initially very impressed by the Main Line Animal Rescue facility when we arrived for our scheduled appointment. Because we currently have a large 4-​year-​old Rotty, we expected some scrutiny regarding the selection of a second dog. The volunteer we worked with was very nice, and guided us through the facility to identify dogs who might do well in our situation. After significant discussion, several candidates were brought to the meeting pen and introduced to our family including our Rotty. One in particular impressed us all, and both ot the introduction volunteers said the meeting went very well. After the potential adoptee was taken out, Bill Smith came by. He seemed quite suspicious of us, but indicated that a home visit would be scheduled to check our fence. We were told that a «soft-​hold» would be placed on the dog we’d met. By this point we’d all begun to fall in love with the animal we felt sure would be joining our family, and went home in a great mood. After looking at some reviews of the rescue online detailing their reluctance to adopt animals out, we began to worry a bit. Our fears were then confirmed about 24 hours later when we received an email form letter indicating that our application had been rejected. The message indicated that the reason for the «committee» decision would not be detailed or explained.
My opinion is that the management «committee» is more interested in publicity than in adopting animals into loving homes. I’d recommend that families who are trying to find that special addition look elsewhere rather than having their hopes dashed in the form of an impersonal and inexplicable email.

This is not a trustworthy organization as revealed on CBS news in Philadelphia last week. Arrogance, ignorance and snobbery prevail at this institution and I believe that their ugly underbelly will be revealed in the not too distant future!

I am beyond appalled at the attitude of this organization. Despite the Unilocal reviews below and being warned by several acquaintances that MLAR will find any (and I mean ANY) reason to deny an adoption application, my husband and I decided to submit an application in an effort to find a companion for our current dog. We’ve been on this hunt for about 3 months now and have met with dogs from almost every rescue in the area to find the right dog for us. Yes, we have a fenced-​in yard (6 feet high). Yes, we have immaculate vet references. And yes, we were more than willing to have someone visit our home to ensure that ours is a safe environment for one of their dogs.
We read the find print regarding their adoption procedures and we saw the note about their adoption area («Main Line Animal Rescue does adoptions in our local community in and around the western suburbs of Philadelphia ONLY»). We assumed that they really did mean «in AND AROUND» the western suburbs. Imagine our surprise when, despite our qualifications, we received the generic response of «We are very sorry but it is necessary that we do adoptions in our local community.» When I questioned this impersonal and unreasonable response, Nancy responded that MLAR «want (s) people who live within the city limits to adopt from those shelters.» Really?! REALLY?! So if we lived 3 miles west and had a Conshohocken address (instead of the Manayunk [Philly] one we have now), I would be a better pet-​owner/​adoption candidate?!
If this organization is going to continue to prevent willing people who love animals from adopting from them, then they really should specifically say that (i.e. eliminate the «and around» phrase from the website). This really is main line snobbery at it finest.

Here is the email I just received when I inquired about adopting one of the dogs on pet finder:
«We are very sorry but it is necessary that we do adoptions in our local Main Line community. Thank you sincerely for your interest.»
I am very disappointed that dogs will continue to live in a cage without a family to love them because the owner has some kind of prejudice against non-​mainliners.